Calculating your Carbon Footprint
Posted: January 27, 2010 by Lindsay, Category:Sustainability
If someone asked me what my carbon footprint was 10 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have had any idea what they were talking about. Now, I can find that answer rather quickly on a number of different websites including carbonfootprint.com and the Nature Conservatory’s website. Just by imputing a few estimations about my home energy use, recycling, and transportation choices I am given a number in tons of carbon/year. Most sites will also show you how you compare you to the US national average and the global average and show recommendations on how to lower your green house gas emissions.
While measuring my personal carbon footprint takes a few minutes, how would someone go about measuring the carbon footprint of an entire city like Boston? Calculating this footprint has a great deal more variables including measuring the exhaust of the commuting traffic daily, energy consumption for both commercial and residential and consideration of photosynthesis in the city. Recently Nathan Philips from Boston University received a grant to take on this task. The National Science Foundation and U.S. Forest Service are financing the precursor to this project which will measure carbon footprint around one of Boston’s busiest streets, Commonwealth Ave.
Their calculations will cumulate to create a map of Boston that will display the largest carbon emission spots and uptake zones. Philip’s hope is that policy makers in the city will use this to address the serious problems that the city and other cities worldwide are currently facing.
